Any remarks by authors that these are mystery cultures about which little is known or can be deduced are way out of date. Archeological work, both excavation and study, has advanced to the point that quite a bit can be said, especially about the Sumerians who left written records. The Indus Valley Script is still in debatable stages of deceipherment, though Newberry claims to have worked it out completely. We may never have a self-written history of the Indus Valley, any more than we will of the much later Cretan Palace culture, but there is much on how life was lived.
The Indus Valley or Harappan culture has gotten to be very exciting, since the use of paleoclimatology and paleogeography have put it firmly in Vedic times. So the Yajur Veda can tell you a lot about life in those brick cities. The problem then is that any book more than ten years old, and any new ones based only on them, is out of the loop. At that point, they are only good for the artifact photos.
Bibby, Geoffrey
Looking for Dilmun *** Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1969; 393 pg, index First report from the discoverer of the link culture between Sumer and the Indus Valley. Largely about the difficulties of modern archeology. T3
Boucher, Francois
Twenty Thousand Years of Fashion; the History of Costume and Personal Adornment **** Harry N. Abrams, 1966; 440 pg, index, glossary Unusually strong in this period, due to fascination with kaunakes, sheep-skin clothing. T1
Budge, Sir A. E. Wallis
Amulets and Superstitions *** Oxford University Press, London, 1930; now from Dover Massive, decently illustrated, covering amulets, symbols, and objects from all over the Mideast, Near East, and Africa, from Sumeria to modern Arabs. T3
Buehr, Walter
Warrior's Weapons *** Crowell, NY, 1963; illustrated by author Covers the earliest development of weapons in metal. T2
Carpenter, Rhys, Edith Hamilton, William Hayes, et al
Everyday Life in Ancient Times; Highlights of the Beginnings of Western Civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome * National Geographic Society, 1964; 368 pg, index A basic introduction to Sumer and Akkad, which quickly moves on to the Assyrians. The plates of painting are workmanlike, composited from ancient sculpture. Note that they say they purposely show cylinder seals far too large: check museum catalogs for actual sizes, which seem to average between one and two inches. T1
DiVito, Robert A.
Studies in Third Millenium Sumerian and Akkadian Personal Names: The Designation and Conception of the Personal God *** More interested in hunting out references to the Personal God than compiling all known names. But it is good that you understand this concept in order to understand your characters. T1
Gelb, Ignace J.
Glossary of Old Akkadian You can find names when they include roots. Otherwise, this lets you know what existed around them to have a name. If a people don't have a word for something, then they virtually can't imagine it. Go through for the names of different plants and trees that can't be definitely pegged as this or that modern one and mention them in gardens and garlands. T3
Gonen, Rivka
Weapons of the Ancient World * Casell, London, 1975 Interesting theories sometimes have little or no basis in fact. Shapes, but no sizes or weights. Knows archery not at all. Not worth the trouble to carry home, but you might flip through it at the library.
Hogg, Ian V.
The History of Fortification *** St. Martin's Press, NY, 1981 Clear, interesting and accurate overview from 7000 BC through the 1970's, well illustrated with photos and diagrams; bibliography and glossary. T2
Ingraham, Holly
People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide to the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names in Over 100 Cultures *****! McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997; 613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography Actual Sumerian and Akkadian names, male and female, also a big ancient Sanskrit chapter for the Indus Valley culture, unless you prefer to derive those from the Tamil. You can build for anywhere of unknown language if you make up your own "shadow language" with the last section's guides. T1
Majno, Guido, MD
The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World *****! Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1975 Heavy research and testing, too, to see how well period practices actually worked. Fascinating reading. Among others, covers medical texts from cuneiform. Now in paperback. T1
McEvedy, Colin
The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History *** Penguin Books, 1967; 96 pg, index Especially interesting for the maps showing the spread of bronze-working and literacy. T1
Roux, Georges
Ancient Iraq *****! George Allen and Unwin, Ltd, London, 1964; Penguin Books, NY, 1966; new revised edition, 1995 You may still find the first version wandering around the second hand shops. Don't pass it up. It is a superb, clear introduction to the Mesopotamian region and cultures, from the prehistoric to the Roman period. But look for the new version at the library to check any chronology changes. T1
Stone, Merlin
When God Was a Woman **** British title: The Paradise Papers 1976; 265 pgs, index, bibliography, date chart While discussing the development of patriarchalism and patrilineal social control of women, by reconstructing the Goddess worship that went before and continued alongside these later religions, Stone gives a unique insight into life and thought of the people to whom the world had a female Creator, Lady of All, Queen of the Universe. T2
Time-Life Books, the editors of
TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC: The Age of God-kings *** Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1987 Very pictorial, good text. The air-brushed reconstructions are sometimes too in love with vast plain surfaces rather than trying to give us maximum pictorial information, and the maps, while they cover the ground, are strictly minimal.
http://atlantic.evsc.virginia.edu/julia/AncientWorld.html
Superb linksite, which it would be silly to try and duplicate here. Especially fine for including Asian, American, and African sections, not just Europe and the Near East.
http://kasson.cfa.org/~jpeterso/avesta.html
Explores the novel but not unreasonable suggestion that grain agriculture developed not to supply people with bread, but to secure a regular supply of beer. The brave, with brewing background, can give re-creating Sumerian beer a shot.
Discusses the usual image of a violent invasion, details the mistakes made in setting up the theory, the contortions of scholars attempting to support it, refutes it, and presents it as a way of denigrating early Indian culture.
This reprint from the Hindustan Times could better be titled "The Great Drought" as it covers the satellite evidence and others for the dessication of about 2000 BC that destroyed the Indus Valley culture, not some Aryan Invasion (the culture was *built* by Aryans.
http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html
A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient<yours>, Medieval, early Modern, Modern, and 20th C), or by topic (military, women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and essays online.